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Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Vikings quarterback still fantasy stud…. When the season started quarterback Brett Favre was not on anyone’s radar as a number one fantasy quarterback. At 40 years of age, Favre’s better days looked to be in the rear view mirror or so we thought. In Favre’s last four starts he is averaging 300-yards passing per game with eight touchdowns and only one interception. Marvelous McNabb throws for a mile…. The Eagles quarterback played very well on Sunday, but no matter how often he threw (55 times) or who he threw the ball to (seven different receivers) it wasn’t enough. While the Eagles fell McNabb’s numbers rose with 35 completions for 450 yards in the air and two touchdowns in a week 10 loss to the Chargers.

Action Jackson will not be stopped…. If you drafted running back Steven Jackson, but had second thoughts because the Rams offense is just bad pat yourself on the back for sticking with the stud. The St. Louis Rams may be 1-7, but that is not stopping “Action” Jackson from having a big season. On Sunday Jackson turned in his third straight 100-yard rushing game with 176 total yards against the Saints. Only twice has Jackson totaled less than 100 yards and for the season he has 1,146 yards of total offense ranking second behind Chris Johnson. Worst of the Worst When it comes to the Raiders-Chiefs rivalry, the Silver and Black know very little about home-field advantage. Thanks primarily to an inept offense that converted just 12 percent (2/16) of third downs, completed just 13 of 32 passes, and turned the ball over twice, the Raiders lost for the seventh straight time at home against the Chiefs. The Raiders are now 2-7; how did they win two games? Jury is still Out Has the Broncos offense finally turned the corner? Well after a fast start on Sunday against the Redskins, it certainly appeared that McDaniels had made the necessary adjustments and the offense was finally right. This was all until disaster struck. After watching Orton complete 11 of 18 for 193 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, the Broncos offense completely disappeared with backup Chris Simms in the game for the injured Orton. With a big matchup with San Diego in week 11 and Simms the likely starter, the offense might regress some before taking any more forward steps. The Jury is going to remain out on Denver’s “Patriot’s West” offense, at least until a healthy Orton returns.

10 Things I Remember From Sunday (Week 10) 1. The Panthers used their two-headed monster out of the back-field to take down the Falcons; Stewart and Williams combined for 174 yards and two touchdowns.2. One of my “Four Horsemen” Sidney Rice puts up 201 receiving yards against the Lions secondary.3. The Titan’s running back Chris Johnson plays like a stud in a league of his own totaling 232 yards and scoring two touchdowns against the Bills.4. The Redskins offensive line just blew holes into the Broncos defense all day to the tune of 174 yards on the ground.5. Despite their recent struggles through the air, the Broncos and quarterback Kyle Orton came out gun-slinging in week 10; Orton passed for 193 yards in the first half before leaving with an injury.6. The “Old man” in Arizona Kurt Warner took a while to get started, but once he did he was unstoppable completing 29 of 38 passes for over 300-yards and two touchdowns.7. The Bengals defense showed up on Sunday against Big Ben and the Steelers recording four sacks and a forced fumble in their 18-12 win.8. Steven Jackson is a one man wrecking crew in St. Louis rushing for 131 yards and catching nine balls for another 45 yards.9. Who is Brandon Gibson, likely the next Waiver wire darling after catching seven passes for 93 yards.10. Peyton Manning is still Peyton Manning; Sunday night against the Patriots he passed for 327 yards with four touchdowns.

New York Giant fans can now calm down a little this week. Rest assured, at this point, there’s still very much of a season left for Big Blue.

It wouldn’t be New York if its fans and media didn’t often overreact to each game that any professional team plays in New York. That response just comes with the territory when rooting for or discussing teams in the New York City area.

Sure enough, to the degree that the Giants were being discussed as part of the National Football League elite after a dominant 5-0 start, was the extent to which many in the New York area were asking what was wrong with the Giants and how New York could let its entire season slip away after a subsequent four-game slide.

No doubt, the questions surrounding the problems that the Giants still need to fix this season were, and still are, legitimate. And, if the Giants don’t soon rectify a lot of the issues that were exposed during their aforementioned four-game losing streak, it’s true, Big Blue’s goal of reaching the playoffs could be in serious jeopardy.

But, for those who were spewing all of the doom and gloom talk about the Giants’ playoff possibilities, many going so far as to say that the Giants’ fourth straight loss ended their season, take a look at the current NFC standings after what happened on Sunday, as the Giants tried to regroup during their bye week.

Sure, New York had slipped from 5-0 to 5-4, and from first place to third place in the NFC East.

Yet, simply by not playing, the Giants moved back into a tie for second place with the 5-4 Philadelphia Eagles (who were beaten in San Diego on Sunday), and are now just one game behind the 6-3 Dallas Cowboys, the NFC East leaders, who lost at Green Bay this week.

As for the NFC wild-card race, the Giants and Eagles are not only tied for the wild-card lead with each other, but also with the 5-4 Atlanta Falcons (losers at Carolina on Sunday) and the 5-4 Green Bay Packers. Carolina, San Francisco, and Chicago are each a game back, at 4-5.

For all of this past week’s chatter about the Giants’ season being over, New York still very much controls its own destiny as long as it can pull everything together and play better.

The Giants host Atlanta next week, while having other home dates with Dallas, Philadelphia, and Carolina in December. And, the Giants are done with both the Cowboys and Eagles on the road.

The bottom line is that while the Giants have to correct a lot of what plagued them while losing four games in a row, and they still have much work to do in order to reach the playoffs this year, they’re very far from the fate many had prematurely predicted for them (if any Giants are Mark Twain fans, they can certainly relate).

As evidenced while the Giants rested this week, no one else in the NFC East seems to be running away with their division, and even less so in the NFC wild-card picture.

So, at least for now Giant fans, view the remaining Giant games in this season the same way your team plans on approaching them. It may sound clichéd, but forget about the recent past and take the rest of the season one game at a time.

Because it doesn’t appear that anything regarding where the Giants are headed this season, one way or the other, will be determined any time soon.